Early literacy vocabulary instruction is specific to the developmental needs of the students. In order to discover the needs of the learners, assessment should be used to guide instruction. According to Beck, McKeown, & Omanson (1987), it is helpful to categorize students’ level of knowledge as unknown, acquainted, and established. A few options exist for evaluating students’ vocabulary abilities within the classroom. For example, evaluating a writing sample, creating a test, using a cloze passage, and teacher observations are all possible assessments for evaluating vocabulary abilities (Lipson & Wixson, 2009). Asking students to recall anything they know about a word and making a list is a good way to evaluate what students know individually or as a class. Word sorts may also be used as an informal assessment to evaluate the connections young students can make between word parts, word meanings, and categorizations.
Word Sorts Word sorts serve a dual purpose and can also be used for vocabulary instruction. A variety of concepts can be taught or reviewed using word sorts including spelling, sound, and meaning. The teacher must begin by deciding if the sort is going to be open (students select the groups for sorting) or closed (teacher selected groupings). With very beginning readers, it may be necessary to do a picture sort and allow the students to sort by words that begin with the same letter or things you find at school. This may progress into letter sorts, where the students sort the letters by their characteristics. Eventually, the students sort words on cards and classify them either by their sound, spelling, or meaning. Word sorts are especially useful with English Language Learners (ELLs). Repeatedly sorting pictures into groups and saying the names of the pictures reinforces the oral language skills and allows the students practice with the language. An example of a word sort can be seen below.
Pre-reading Strategies Vocabulary is often taught before reading in the form of pre-reading strategies such as Prereading Plan or direct instruction of unknown words. The Prereading Plan allows teachers to introduce unknown words and assess what prior knowledge students have about a vocabulary word. The Prereading Plan consists of asking students what they already know about a word, what ideas triggered the responses listed, and what new ideas they think they might learn about a word from the upcoming text (Lipson & Wixson, 2009). Direct instruction of vocabulary prior to reading is often conducted to generate prior knowledge about a concept and to give students a context in which they can begin to formulate a definition for the word. Some vocabulary words are more easily taught as concepts, such as community. A teacher may conduct a K-W-L chart with students to introduce community as a vocabulary word in a text. Introducing unfamiliar words before reading helps students to grasp the meaning of the word when they encounter it in the text. An example of a K-W-L used to introduce vocabulary is below.
Independent Practice While it is especially useful to teach vocabulary using direct instruction during reading activities, students also require independent practice to fully understand the meaning, structure, and spelling of a word. Options for independent practice include games, independent reading, and writing. Games focused on vocabulary words are a type of word study that is particularly engaging for students. An example of these games might include a matching game where students have to flip over cards to match a picture with its definition. Vocabulary games are easily placed in folders and can be used for independent stations while Guided Reading lessons are taking place. Young students acquire between 2,500- 3,000 words a year, and one of the best ways to introduce them to the new vocabulary is through independent reading (Nagy & Herman, 1987). Discovering words through independent reading provides students an authentic context to use the problem-solving strategies they have learned during reading instruction. Allowing students an opportunity to write using the new vocabulary provides many of the same perks. Students are able to truly understand the meaning of a word when then use it correctly in their own writing. It provides them a chance to build their own context around what they know about the word. A computer version of a matching game to reinforce vocabulary is pictured below.
Problem-Solving Strategies Once students have learned to successfully decode, the battle they are left with is deciphering the meaning of new vocabulary words. It is important to begin in the Early Literacy stage to teach students how to problem solve unknown words. Having the ability to say a word means adds little to comprehension if a student does not know the meaning of a word. Students should be taught to use multiple cues from the text to develop a working definition for the word. The materials used by Early Literacy teachers often involve picture books with a limited amount of text. These students should be taught to check the picture for clues about the meaning of words. In addition to the picture, they should be encouraged to think about the meaning of the story they are reading and decide if any context clues can aid in developing a definition. Once they have tried to construct meaning on their own, students should be encouraged to ask for the meaning so they do not get confused at a later point in the story.
References
Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., & Omanson, R. (1987). The effects and uses of diverse vocabulary instructional techniques. In M.G. McKeown & M.E. Curtis (Eds.), The nature of vocabulary acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Lipson, M.Y., & Wixson, K.K. (2009). Assessment & Instruction of reading and writing difficulties: An interactive approach. Pearson.
Nagy, W.E., & Herman, P. (1987). Breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge: Implications for acquisition and instruction. In M.G. McKeown & M.E. Curtis (Eds), The nature of vocabulary acquisition (pp. 19-36). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Early literacy vocabulary instruction is specific to the developmental needs of the students. In order to discover the needs of the learners, assessment should be used to guide instruction. According to Beck, McKeown, & Omanson (1987), it is helpful to categorize students’ level of knowledge as unknown, acquainted, and established. A few options exist for evaluating students’ vocabulary abilities within the classroom. For example, evaluating a writing sample, creating a test, using a cloze passage, and teacher observations are all possible assessments for evaluating vocabulary abilities (Lipson & Wixson, 2009). Asking students to recall anything they know about a word and making a list is a good way to evaluate what students know individually or as a class. Word sorts may also be used as an informal assessment to evaluate the connections young students can make between word parts, word meanings, and categorizations.
Word Sorts
Word sorts serve a dual purpose and can also be used for vocabulary instruction. A variety of concepts can be taught or reviewed using word sorts including spelling, sound, and meaning. The teacher must begin by deciding if the sort is going to be open (students select the groups for sorting) or closed (teacher selected groupings). With very beginning readers, it may be necessary to do a picture sort and allow the students to sort by words that begin with the same letter or things you find at school. This may progress into letter sorts, where the students sort the letters by their characteristics. Eventually, the students sort words on cards and classify them either by their sound, spelling, or meaning. Word sorts are especially useful with English Language Learners (ELLs). Repeatedly sorting pictures into groups and saying the names of the pictures reinforces the oral language skills and allows the students practice with the language. An example of a word sort can be seen below.
Pre-reading Strategies
Vocabulary is often taught before reading in the form of pre-reading strategies such as Prereading Plan or direct instruction of unknown words. The Prereading Plan allows teachers to introduce unknown words and assess what prior knowledge students have about a vocabulary word. The Prereading Plan consists of asking students what they already know about a word, what ideas triggered the responses listed, and what new ideas they think they might learn about a word from the upcoming text (Lipson & Wixson, 2009). Direct instruction of vocabulary prior to reading is often conducted to generate prior knowledge about a concept and to give students a context in which they can begin to formulate a definition for the word. Some vocabulary words are more easily taught as concepts, such as community. A teacher may conduct a K-W-L chart with students to introduce community as a vocabulary word in a text. Introducing unfamiliar words before reading helps students to grasp the meaning of the word when they encounter it in the text. An example of a K-W-L used to introduce vocabulary is below.
Independent Practice
While it is especially useful to teach vocabulary using direct instruction during reading activities, students also require independent practice to fully understand the meaning, structure, and spelling of a word. Options for independent practice include games, independent reading, and writing. Games focused on vocabulary words are a type of word study that is particularly engaging for students. An example of these games might include a matching game where students have to flip over cards to match a picture with its definition. Vocabulary games are easily placed in folders and can be used for independent stations while Guided Reading lessons are taking place. Young students acquire between 2,500- 3,000 words a year, and one of the best ways to introduce them to the new vocabulary is through independent reading (Nagy & Herman, 1987). Discovering words through independent reading provides students an authentic context to use the problem-solving strategies they have learned during reading instruction. Allowing students an opportunity to write using the new vocabulary provides many of the same perks. Students are able to truly understand the meaning of a word when then use it correctly in their own writing. It provides them a chance to build their own context around what they know about the word. A computer version of a matching game to reinforce vocabulary is pictured below.
http://www.barryfunenglish.com/games.php
Problem-Solving Strategies
Once students have learned to successfully decode, the battle they are left with is deciphering the meaning of new vocabulary words. It is important to begin in the Early Literacy stage to teach students how to problem solve unknown words. Having the ability to say a word means adds little to comprehension if a student does not know the meaning of a word. Students should be taught to use multiple cues from the text to develop a working definition for the word. The materials used by Early Literacy teachers often involve picture books with a limited amount of text. These students should be taught to check the picture for clues about the meaning of words. In addition to the picture, they should be encouraged to think about the meaning of the story they are reading and decide if any context clues can aid in developing a definition. Once they have tried to construct meaning on their own, students should be encouraged to ask for the meaning so they do not get confused at a later point in the story.
References
Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., & Omanson, R. (1987). The effects and uses of diverse vocabulary instructional techniques. In M.G. McKeown & M.E. Curtis (Eds.), The nature of vocabulary acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Lipson, M.Y., & Wixson, K.K. (2009). Assessment & Instruction of reading and writing difficulties: An interactive approach. Pearson.
Nagy, W.E., & Herman, P. (1987). Breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge: Implications for acquisition and instruction. In M.G. McKeown & M.E. Curtis (Eds), The nature of vocabulary acquisition (pp. 19-36). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.